These days, most corporations have their own intranet, which is to some extent like the internet except for the fact that it’s only accessible to those within the company. However, Intranets are not just useful for huge enterprises, SMEs can benefit from them hugely too.
An intranet means that internal communications within a company are simplified significantly and make for more success in terms of growth, as productivity increases. It’s basically an internal database which every employee can access, with dissimilar permissions for various staff. Implementing an proficient intranet software system involves several internal departments – and one of the most important is the marketing team. Your marketing team is responsible for your company’s website and boosting sales, so preferably should have some input into your intranet system, as they are well-versed in displaying and organizing information in an eye-catching manner which provokes a reaction. Marketing employees use up their day designing ways to promote your products to customers, so having an intranet that promotes your company’s goals to employees is likewise important. Intranet and social networking- One task of your marketing team is social networking; hence getting their input on social collaboration tools in your intranet is useful. They understand the power of social networking and collaboration and will most likely have ideas on how to take on other employees through social platforms. Having social collaboration on your intranet can include an option for “brainstorming” sessions for new business ideas. For example, an efficient intranet will also drive and develop company culture and educate employees on new initiatives. Getting your staff involved socially on the intranet is constantly a massive bonus. Marketing department benefits- The marketing team wants input from many sources — internal, such as management and peers, and external — to carry out their duties properly. The intranet speeds up marketing-related business procedures, counting approval for marketing collateral. Also, being able to access information quickly and while on the road are advantages too. Leadership involvement- Marketing employees recognize the importance of “influence” – such as having famous brand spokesmen endorsing and using a product to attract customers – and the same culture can be engineered for corporate leaders. Influence employees by how the managers and executives use and endorse your corporate intranet. The marketing team can help out in encouraging executives to collaborate with and empower employees via the intranet. This can also “demystify” the executives by showing how leaders are employees just like everyone else. Your marketing intranet should be a gateway for employees to have a channel of communication with company leaders. Deliver the right message to your target market- Marketers need different types of information to function effectively. The company executives provide an overall vision and direction; the customers have needs and demands which must be fulfilled, and peers can offer an insight into what appeals to the market and which approaches work. Viewpoints from employees in other departments can assist in shaping creative marketing strategies. An active and well-structured intranet should help marketers to access all these sources of information and knowledge. Apart from capturing the information, the intranet will archive it so that future marketing staff will be able to benefit from the accumulated knowledge too. The intranet can incorporate specific applications to directly contribute to the company’s marketing work. A folder application can house much crucial information, including marketing materials, such as flyers, brochures and white papers; up-to-date product descriptions and prices; presentation documents, including PowerPoint slides; the outcome of surveys; market research and analysis; monitoring results and evaluation reports. Read more about Intranet Software benefits.
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These days, the majority of corporations have their own intranet, which is somewhat like the internet excluding for the fact that it’s only accessible to those within the company. However, Intranets are not just helpful for large enterprises, SMEs can benefit from them hugely too. An intranet means that internal communications within a company are simplified considerably and make for more success in terms of growth, as productivity increases. It’s mainly an internal database which every employee can access, with special permissions for various staff. By building an intranet cms, employees and bosses equally can share information across the board; not only is it easier to set up and share appointments and information, but as an element of an intranet, employees can communicate well again, leading to less confusion following meetings, when everyone has to take notes and memorize everything afterwards. Here are some of the benefits of Intranet which can help you to improve your business- Corporate communications: Since an intranet is an employees’ main pane into corporate tools and information, and occupies a very important part of their attention space, it offers a great place for the management to communicate with employees. To illustrate, imagine a large corporation with thousands of employees around the world. If everyone logs into the intranet every morning, the management can publish important announcements, advertise new initiatives and policies, communicate company history, culture and positioning, recognize outstanding employees, and gather feedback in the form of surveys and suggestions. Productivity: An intranet is like “home” for employees and the intranet desktop is probably the first thing they see in the morning. An intranet which gives employees’ access to all the tools and information they want to effectively perform that day’s tasks, every day, can go a thousand miles in improving productivity. Knowledge management: In its very broadest sense, knowledge management means capturing, organizing and retrieving corporate information. With complete tools and information within the intranet, and employees repeatedly adding up new information in the form of comments, discussions, blogs, documents; the intranet serves as a centralized place to capture important corporate information. Tools like search ensure that employees across the company network can find just the information they need to perform their jobs. Streamline processes: Modern intranets include not just static information, but the actual tools that employees use for work. This presents a great opportunity to use intranets as a place where companies can document processes, and offer the actual tools to automate processes. Many companies make use of intranets to computerize everything from trouble-free processes like employee appraisals to complicated processes like CRM and project management. Intranet software has become a most important part of the modern business landscape, and it's not going away anytime soon. It can take time to discover the right platform for your organization, but the more effort you put into your search, the more contented you'll be with your intranet and intranet features once it's been implemented. In recent times, most corporations have their own intranet, which is rather like the internet except for the fact that it’s simply reachable to those within the company. However, Intranets are not just practical for large enterprises, SMEs can benefit from them hugely too. An intranet means that internal communications within a company are simplified to a large extent and make for more success in terms of growth, as productivity increases. It’s mainly an internal database which every employee can access, with different permissions for various staff. Document management: Keeping your companies documents in a secure environment online provides each Intranet user with easy access to information. This is particularly useful with companies seeking an ISO accreditation as document management is the answer. An Intranet provides a system where any user, on any internet connected device, can simply share and access information and documentation. Team engagement: If each member of your team can login and see the most recent company news, information, events or chat online with other members of the team who are remote. An intranet solution can significantly improve cross company communication. Communication: Not all intranet benefits relate particularly to employee production. One of the main advantages of an intranet is improved communication, idea generation and internal conversation. Companies can offer forums where employees can contribute to ideas on various types related to the company itself, certain projects or other topics. These forums may provide the outlet for employees to present new product ideas or suggestions they aren't comfortable sharing face-to-face. It also allows employees that work in diverse locations to have an ongoing vehicle for communication. Security and Reliability: Intranets often offer significant advantages in security and privacy over the Internet and other forms of electronic communication. Companies can use various types of firewalls and encrypted technology to protect data and internal communication from hackers. The consistency of intranets is also usually strong, as companies have IT staffs to deal with the systems. Unlike pages on the World Wide Web, employees typically don't have to worry about bandwidth limitations and accessibility when opening intranet documents and tools. Saves Time: Most organizations still rely on shared network drives and email for correspondence between different parties. A corporate Intranet goes a long way in solving the natural problems of working with shared drives and email. These include a reduction in the duplication of content, overcoming version control issues and having no ability to search across drives and staff member email accounts, just to name a few. Intranet software provides a centralized storage area that enables your team members and you to bring out content into a single location from where everyone can access, search and work together from. A well-designed and secure intranet will allow your employees to participate, communicate and collaborate better and save your business huge amounts of time. It will smooth out all the avoidable complications that happen in the current complex business scenarios. By addressing the problems of bringing your enterprise together irrespective of location or size, incorporating an intranet system in your business will let you harvest the benefits of increased productivity and better employee engagement. Nowadays the terms intranet, extranet and portal are often used interchangeably. It can, therefore, be very confusing to work out precisely what the differences are, let alone decide which option is the best for your organization. In this article, we’ll help you to understand what the terms really mean and in what situations the technologies are best applied. You’ll then be able to make an informed choice as to the best option for you. In broad sense intranets, extranets and portals are the entire online tools that will help out to trim down the amount of time spent on carrying out everyday tasks enhance productivity in the workplace and improve communications. Any business or industry can take advantage of the profit that is on offer. There are, however, exclusive aspects to each option and so let’s look in detail at intranets, extranets and portals. Intranets An intranet is essentially an internal platform. It is a private, secured network accessible only to employees and is designed to facilitate connection, collaboration and communication as well as streamlined business processes. The average intranet will consist of a number of standard features such as a document management system, staff directory, news blogs, company calendar and newsletters. In fact, an intranet often quickly becomes fundamental to a company’s internal workings. Businesses are using intranet software for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s to deal with a particular pain point such as improving internal communications, promoting opportunities for collaboration across a dissimilar workforce or increasing employee engagement. Often it’s in response to a general need to make it easier to communicate and share documents within the company, to streamline day-to-day activity and to help organize people and data. Extranets
An extranet is a classified network that is intended for your company and team members to share information and data among particular external parties in a closed, virtual space. These external parties could be customers, suppliers, vendors etc. And so an extranet can be used for private communication, collaboration, as well as knowledge and document sharing. But perhaps the finest application of an extranet though is for transferring data between organizations. Extranet access is dissimilar to the intranet which means that external parties will not have access to confidential internal information and data. Businesses have found a series of uses for extranets: from the university or college utilizing an extranet for the expense of fees and sharing of information with students and parents, to the car manufacturer using an extranet to enhance collaboration and communication with suppliers thereby streamlining the supply chain and saving many dollars. Extranets are as well a huge option for companies that require sharing information backwards and forwards with clients and customers – such as a graphic design company, accountants or law firms – as it will save valuable time and resources in comparison to the more traditional media of emails or phone calls. Portals A portal is a gateway or window that allows you to interrelate with enterprise systems and applications. As well as bringing together your intranet and extranet, a portal can also join you to external enterprise systems and applications as well as access to selected public websites and vertical-market websites (suppliers, vendors, etc.). From banks and accountants to colleges, universities and healthcare providers, even childcare centers, a large many businesses and industries are utilizing portals, mainly in response to the challenges of information management that exist in all organizations. Many portals also recommend the possibility of customization and personalization for staff members. So instead of every employee accessing the full range of tools and apps that are obtainable through the portal, they can customize it to those that are pertinent to their role or team. As we’ve seen, when it comes to intranets, extranets and portals there are some features that are common across the platforms, and there are others that are specific. Which option is the best one for your organization will largely depend on what your objectives are. It’s important to remember, however, that the options are not mutually exclusive. In fact, progressively more companies are utilizing software that seamlessly combines two or more of the options into one integrated digital platform. The end result is the same though: a more productive and efficient workplace. While current technology has advanced to work out a lot of business challenges, a few of these challenges have been solved by the simple act of connecting people with each other. Intranet software has significantly contributed to this.
As businesses globally come face-to-face with the realities of our times, that communication and how we make relationships has changed, intranet software has enabled these processes and helped form social cultures in the workplace. The simple act of connecting people can make business value and here are four ways how this is taking place. 1. Encourages Sharing of Critical Information: Similar to what email did to communication, social is again altering how we share information. With an easy update status message, you can encourage people to share their thoughts, experiences, activities, and expertise. Sharing also makes business personal, something that all organizations should aspire for. Most organizations though fear that personal postings will upshot in less productivity and inappropriate use of the network. However, when intranet content is personal in nature, it connects the fabric of culture for people to come together and enjoy what they are doing. 2. Capture Valuable Knowledge: Intranets provide a platform and an opportunity to do just that, but in a less scary and intrusive manner. Profiles, activity streams, and interactions contain a wealth of information about employees and these can tell a lot about someone's experience, expertise, and skills. Intranet software can help discover expertise through people's profiles, activity streams, and comments. When users are members of specific groups, their blog posts and comments can tell a lot about their abilities. 3. Enables Action: With new relationships and behaviour, which address a gap that prevented certain actions from taking place, intranet software can help modify operations and processes upon adoption. Problems can be solved faster and better since users can now search and look for posted answers and information. As more knowledge becomes available, users gain more confidence in the use of the intranet as part of their daily work, which further accelerates knowledge capture. 4. Empowers People: Intranets have become excellent platforms that empower people to speak up and link together for common causes. They offer opportunities for people to contribute their skills, ideas, and opinions which can be a real value driver, especially for an organization looking to innovate from the inside. Intranets give employees a voice to be heard by people who matter. When employees are encouraged to vent their frustrations using internal sites, it can help out leaders address concerns directly and avoid a situation spilling out of control and onto public-facing networks. 5. Facilitate Real-time Feedback: Using an interactive intranet lets you share aspects of your business strategy for precise feedback. This is one way to see if the plan will bear up the litmus test of employee acceptance. After all, they are the ones who will be responsible for executing it. The interactive intranet is also a perfect vehicle to determine how well an already-introduced strategy has been internalized. By collaborating and communicating via messages, videos, documents, polls and more, business leaders can then reinforce the strategy where it needs further explanation. Intranet software is varying how organizations communicate with their employees and this is driving real change. Companies and businesses that neglect this shift are losing out in this area to those that are ahead and adopting social into the workplace. As public social technologies make their way into workplaces, organizations that adopt a social culture are going to be a foremost force moving forward. Related Post: Top 10 Features Of Intranet 4/5/2017 2 Comments Top 10 Features of intranet For organizations looking for a better option to modernize their business processes, there's nothing better choice than the intranet. The business world has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Technology has progressed amazingly since the 1980s, and it's now possible for just about anyone with a laptop and the right skills to launch a business. Intranet application is one of the top software these days. Top features of Intranet can be as- 1. Forum & Commenting Capabilities: Forums not only display certain discussions in a well-organized manner, they also tempt users to participate and share ideas, which can guide to better and faster solutions. If forums aren't a part of the package, you may want to look somewhere else for your company intranet. 2. Ideation & Innovation Management: In order for a company intranet to achieve peak performance, it's necessary that users are able to contribute and talk about new ideas freely. This intranet ideation feature should not only make idea distribution as easy as possible for its users, but support it. 3. Information Discovery: As your company intranet grows in size and scope, it will no doubt become harder to navigate given the means of content. Information discovery is a key part of daily business processes, which means your organization will be wasting valuable time if your social intranet software doesn't have an influential search and categorization (tagging) system. 4. Clean & Meaningful Design: The design of your company intranet is one of the most significant focal points, as it can have a remarkable effect on user experience. Design and UI are related in many ways, but it's important to make different the two, as design focuses more on the visual look of your intranet than how it really operates. 5. Compatibility: What frequently goes overlooked by those in the market for social intranet software is the matter of compatibility. Depending on how your business's network is set up, certain types of intranet software and intranet features may not actually is well-suited right out of the box. 6. Document Sharing:
Many intranet features state a big stake in idea sharing and internal communication, but they're not limited to intangibles. A platform that allows employees to share documents freely and simply is always preferred over the choice, particularly since certain documents are too large to be sent through email. 7. Simple Administration: Great intranet software allows for simple administration that can be handled by employees and those in supervisory positions, empowering users to make smart decisions and add to the health of the intranet as a whole. 8. Employee Profiles: Employees should be given the chance to set up profiles related to what might be found on a service such as LinkedIn, listing their work experience, a short bio, content they've shaped within the intranet, discussions they've taken part in, and more. 9. Spaces & Groups: In order to keep your intranet as well-organized as possible, you'll want to have the capability to create online work-spaces for each department in your company. When departments have their own virtual work-spaces within the community as a whole, discussions, documents, and content can be partitioned so that everything is located in one place and inaccessible from other aspects of the intranet. 10. Customization & Flexibility: Perhaps the most vital intranet feature is customization. There are countless "one-size-fits-all" options out there, many of which market them as being easy to deploy and use. The vast majority of these solutions does not allow for even the least bit of customization and tend to stick to a pattern that cannot be tweaked to fit the needs of your business. Intranet has become a major part of the modern business landscape, and it's not going away anytime soon. It can take time to discover the right platform for your organization, but additional effort you put into your search, the happier you'll be with your social intranet and intranet features once it's been implemented.
The Modern Intranet is changing the way that organizations carry out business, providing them with operational support, transparency, employee profiling, and collaboration abilities that we have not seen before. As an integral part of how an organization operates day to day, the Intranet should basically serve five purposes:
An intranet app is an influential tool for any business, making it easier to share documents and files between users and to work cooperatively on group projects.
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Today, all organizations are information driven organizations. No issue which industry you are in, you need to know where all the information associated to your products, services and internal processes is stored. Intranet portal can be proved as one of the useful method for an organization. |
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